I Spyders , written and directed by William Allinson is a dark comedy that follows John, a frustrated office employee who works in a depressing office for an incompetent boss. Things take a turn for the worse when John brings home a bunch of grapes that have a spider clinging to them. Unbeknownst to John the spider finds its way into John’s head and it doesn’t take long before his life turns into a dizzying nightmare.

Allinson was inspired to write this short after his own personal experiences working in a toxic workplace with a clueless boss. “I was in the most demoralizing work environment I had ever experienced — instead of quitting, I chose to start incorporating all of the moronic idiosyncrasies of my employer into a fictional character,” explains Allinson.

A perfect combination of funny and scary, the 20-minute short stars Kevin Jake Walker as employee John. Toronto-based Walker is not new to the horror genre, having just shot the feature Devil Seed .

Director of Photography Stephen Chandler Whitehead, created the film noir tableau look of the film. Using a lot of unusual angles, this style helped to create a claustrophobic atmosphere and amplify the tension in the office. Whitehead’s previous work includes We Ate the Children Last (TIFF Top Ten 2011 short, TIFF 2011 Official Selection), A People Uncounted (Montreal World Film Festival 2011 Official Selection) and Captain Coulier (Sundance 2009 Official Selection).

Special effects played an important part in the short, as John’s appearance rapidly deteriorates throughout the film. Both the makeup and special effects were created by award-winning makeup artist Kenji Sato , who was a makeup artist on the short, We Ate the Children Last. “We knew Kenji was going to be able to achieve what we wanted because he’s good at creating realistic special effects, which was extremely important for the final scene,” explains Kyle Edward Wilson , the film’s producer and editor.

When it came to the film’s other key player — the spiders — animal wrangler, Jim Lovisek corralled 40 dock spiders of varying sizes to use on the set. Lovisek brought with him more than 30 years experience in the film industry, with film credits including Dream House , Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Naked Lunch .

Allinson who also co-produced the short, has previously worked on Cash Cab , Discovery Channel’s Green Machines and Best. Trip. Ever. , which featured Olympic athlete Jon Montgomery.

Producer and editor Wilson has edited videos that have featured personalities including Daria Werbowy, Coco Rocha, Amber Heard and Edward Norton. He edited the short RGB Move that was featured at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and two groundbreaking shorts called The 360 Project.

This is the third project created by Allinson and Wilson, who have been collaborating for the last five years.

Bat

I love prosthetic effects, stop-motion animation and gore, but most of all I love a good story!
I adore B-movies and exploitation films in many of their guises and also have a soft spot for creature features.
I review a wide range of media including movies, TV series, books and videogames. I'm a massive fan of author Hunter S. Thompson and I enjoy various genre of videogames with Kingdom Hearts and Harvest Moon two of my all time favs. Currently playing: Silent Hill